I wear no mask
by niyanna
Summary: Harry gets an unecessary cultural lesson. R&R, please. Oneshot


This is my first Star trek Voyager fic so don't hound me or anything, please. Here is a short little story. Enjoy. Read and Review.

Summary: Harry gets an unecessary cultural lesson.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, squat, zip.

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Harry Kim was rummaging through his things and making piles of things he wants to get rid of, things he doesn't, and things he's not so sure about. Spread out accross the floor of his living quarters, he was not sure he would ever see the floor again.

"Man I never knew I had so much stuff!" he said out loud to himself. "It's like someone else lives here too. Yeesh!" sat on the floor for a minute to rest then started back up again on his knees digging into the trunk.

He was now starting to see the bottom of the trunk (where he keeps his stuff, he couldn't leave them lying around the room ) when he felt a something that didn't really feel like all the other things in the trunk. Cold, old, leathery, small, box-like chest was what it was and he knew it too before he started to pull it out cause the guilt was rushing back to him again.

**_FLASHBACK_**

_"Mom you don't have to give me this. and you didn't have to come to say good bye it's not like i'll be gone forever."_

_"I know but it could happen and besides you are still my son and i have a right to say good bye to my only son and besides scince Libby was so busy on something she could just not get out of who else would bring you here. We can discuss it when you get back."_

**_END FLASHBACK_**

Harry stared at the small chest and with his fingers, started to trace the dragon designs that seemed so ancient. It was truely a remarkable treasure, one that he felt he was too young to deserve such an old thing. He put it back in the trunk carefully and slowly closed the lid and walked out... for ten seconds. He came back with a glass of water, set it on the table as he quickly walked back over to the trunk, lifted the lid and took out the chest. He held it again now rethinking if he should open it or not. Curiosity got the better of him, and he looked over the chest to find the front. It really was old for it needed a key to open, so Harry looked back in the trunk and also found a smallenvelope that evidently contained the key when he opened it. The key also had a dragon design carved on it, and it was bronze-gold colored.

Hesitently, Harry put the key in the keyhole then turned it clockwise until he heard a click sound and the top of the chest popped open just a crack. Harry, now eager to see what was inside, opened the lid all the way and stared inside. Inside were a few velvet boxes, like the ones you put real gold jewelry in, a few black and white pictures and a gold box that caught his attention. He decided to open the gold box first, so he reached for it and opened it and found a folded peice of paper. He wasn't expecting jewels or gold or stuff like that, but he wasn't expecting just a peice of paper either. The paper looked old and brown, Harry was surprised it didn't just crumble and turn to dust in his hands as he picked it up from where it layed, then unfolded it carefully and delecately as he best he could. When it was open, Harry saw that there where words on it, to read this he wanted to get comfortable so Harry got up, went over to the table still holding the paper, picked up his glass of water that he set down earlier and sat down in a chair, took a sip of water and started to read.

_I heard the voice of  
the white people  
telling me how wonderful  
the new world would be_

_When we got there, the  
buildings reached the sky!  
Loud noise of intercoms  
burned my ears  
We went up stairs that  
moved as we stood_

_The vehicle didn't have  
dirt all over it  
The roads were covered with tar  
As we rode softly to paradise_

_But somewhere along the way  
Our paradise turned to nothing  
We found ourselves in a world  
we didn't comprehend  
Tall buildings full of nothing  
Endless roads leading nowhere_

_We became lost jewels  
caught between two cultures_

_I heard the voice of my ancestors  
"We've lost face in you"  
In this fast-paced culture  
I've twisted and turned  
myself American_

_In the process I've lost  
the one thing I tresured the most  
Me_

_I forgot whoI am  
My culture  
My family  
My face_

_I put on a mask that  
didn't fit  
I looked back to the  
past  
And realized what  
brought me here_

_It shaped me to be who I am  
My future will be shaped by both_

_I understand who I am  
What I am  
And why I am here_

_Not only am I American  
I am Asian American  
I wear no mask_

Harry read it over again and again. It looked like a diary page in the form of a poem. It made Harry feel guilty again, this time for no reason at all. He put the paper gently back in the box and placed the box in definitly keeping pile. He left his room not really feeling anything, the word 'Wow' was going through his mind over and over, and he definitly had new found respect for the culture he and his family came from. And on his way to his shift he wondered why had his mother had given him the precious parcel then and not later? Harry thought about that but shrugged it off for it wasn't really important now.

Harry also found respect for the past and what the people of the past went through too. He knew everyone was different, especially on the ship, but he also knew that everyone was the same as well, and on Voyager everyone treated everyone else like their crewmates, their friends, and their family. One huge hilarious family. Not always happy with each other, competition for positions, but family.

Harry was thankful for that and he knew he wore no mask.

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End.

You have now read the story, now you should review and say good things.

I don't even own the poem.


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